John took a puff of smoke from his cigarette as he walked around the building. It was nearly midnight, and he was the only one on shift. Oddly enough, he wasn’t supposed to be alone. But, for some reason, all of his other coworkers called out. One of them was a middle-aged woman named Nora. According to his other coworkers, she scared them into not working that night.
“It’s the anniversary of the Ice Age tonight,” Nora said. “The full moon and the passing stars will call the animals into the waking world for one hour. Pray tell us we are not here when that happens!”
John just laughed at her and shook his head. “These aren’t even real animals, you old hag. They’ve been reconstructed with foam and paper.” His coworkers still looked uncertain. John threw up his hands.
“Oh, come on guys. Don’t tell me you believe in this crap!” But they all shook their heads and left. So John was left alone in that building.
He puffed more smoke from his cigarette and walked around with his flashlight. Management will hear about this in the morning. Hell, maybe I’ll even quit. There’s a better paying job down the street as a security guard for that office building. If a robber breaks in here, it’ll be their damn fault, not mine. And I-
Something suddenly jolted John from his thoughts. It sounded like creaking above him. He shrugged. The building’s old, no problem. He continued walking forward and began to whistle casually. The museum lay across three exhibits, starting with the ice age on the bottom floor and ending at the dinosaur period. Nothing really to steal from here, John thought. What was valuable were the documents stored in the office on the top floor. Management didn’t allow anyone in there and kept it locked. John shrugged and decided to walk through the museum to pass the time.
The bottom floor was the shortest. It had some exhibits featuring animals from the ice age. John thought about what Nora said as he looked around. Then he shook his head and laughed.
“Stupid old woman, I wish your ideas wouldn’t get stuck in my head,” he said out loud.
As he exited the bottom floor to access the staircase, he couldn’t help but notice the saber-toothed tiger.
John crossed over to it, staring in fascination for a few minutes. It seemed to stare at him with a frozen, primal gaze. Then, out of curiosity and perhaps trying to prove Nora was a fraud, he stepped forward and hit the glass with his hand. Nothing happened, of course. John smirked, satisfied with himself, and went to the second floor.
This floor held giant insects and plant life, extinct and living. This section interested John the most because there was a section where a skylight poured sunlight into the room, lighting up the living plants. John walked over to the skylight and noticed the moon was pretty close by. He chuckled. That’ll be a pretty scene, John thought. John waited until the moon reached the skylight, and he nodded. The latter walked away to the third floor, once again satisfied. Nothing to report here, he thought.
On the third floor the dinosaurs looked especially interesting, even in the middle of the night. The stegosaurus skeleton looked intact and perfect. Nothing here either, John thought. He yawned and decided to go towards the bench in the middle of the floor. It allowed him to see all the exhibits without standing up. He slowly sat down, looking at everything. Time passed slowly in silence. The only sound was the faint hum of the museum lights. John absentmindedly reached over to causally touch a plant. When he did, there was a crackle and a pop. The lights went out in rapid succession. John was in complete darkness. He quickly clicked on his flashlight, forcing himself to stay calm. What if there’s someone in here? I have to catch them, the electricity might be out.
John quickly got to his feet and ran to the control room. There was nobody to be found. The latter moved to flip the breaker. The lights cut back on almost immediately. John breathed a sigh of relief, returning to the third floor. On his way through the first floor, he looked around briefly for signs of anyone on the stairs. There wasn’t. It was only silence. John cursed the museum for not having cameras or proper security. The rest of the night, he looked for signs of anyone.
There never was. The breaker wasn’t broken or corrupted because it had recently been fixed. Yet it kept turning off during the night, every 10 minutes. The second time, he swore he could hear something coming from downstairs. It sounded like scratching on a window. But every time he would go down to look, he would see nobody. Next morning, John yawned, relieved his shift was over. When he went down to the first floor, he happened to walk by the saber tooth exhibit.
Deep scratches were etched all over the glass on the inside. The electrical wire powering the exhibit light was one of the main lines powering all the lights in the building. It was bitten and chewed. Like an cat. John left that day and never returned.
Helenmollybooks 